Introduction
Hello everyone! I've been stalking everyone's VCE Journals and after a 6 month contemplation I've decided to make my own VCE Journal! I'm in Year 11 and I'm going to graduate from Cory in 2021, and I really want to be able to come back, read my journey, and see how far I've grown. I also want to contribute more to AN as I have always been the one to ask questions, and honestly I just want to develop more confidence in myself so this VCE journal is a great way to put myself out there as you all are generally so supportive and positive!!
Anyways, a little about what subjects I'm doing:
Bio 3/4
I love it so much! It's so much fun just learning content which you can apply to yourself and the world around you! We're currently doing evolution right now and it's so much fun! That being said, immunity was definitely my favourite aos. In Unit 3, I think I did okay.. my sac average is 88% and I'm around rank 10. In Unit 4 my performance dropped a little in the aos 3 sac with an 80% (I have no idea what my rank is but from many conversations I think it's around rank 15-20). I just did the aos 2 sac on Wednesday and I'm pretty upset with how I went... I had a panic attack during the sac and to the point where I couldn't read the words sometimes. I lost two easy marks which everyone else got, and it was a relatively easy sac so I'm expecting a low mark. Anyways, it's all about picking yourself back up and doing better next time, so I've contacted a psychologist to help me manage my anxiety better!
English
I've always been a B+ student in English and tbh I never liked it much, but something changed this year and I really love English! I probably sound dumb but I love how you can just analyse and judge intricacies in texts and just put it on paper. I'm happy with my progress in English and I'm excited to become a better writer! We're doing Into the Wild and Tracks which tbh I found really boring at the start but now I find analysing the protagonists' psyche really fun!
Methods
Maths has always been my strength so methods has been so much fun! I love how structured maths is and I find a certain beauty to graphs. Am I a nerd? We're doing trigonometric functions right now and I love it!
General Maths
As much as I love maths, GM is really dry and easy. I wish it was more challenging! Financial maths is coming up some day or another so I'm excited for that.
Chemistry
Love Chem! It's a strength for me and similar to Bio I love how you can apply minute details to our everyday world. Right now, we're doing water and redox reactions, and we're moving so fast through the content!
Health and Human Development
1/2 is pretty cool but also kinda dry. I'm really excited for 3/4 though, where we'll learn about how organisations help make the entire world a better place and such!
A little bit about me: I love reading books, writing stories, and I'm currently working on an app for the first time! Like many AN users out here, my dream is to get into medicine and become a paediatrician or ob/gyn. If I don't get into med, I'll go into physio, radiography (I'm really interested in sonography), or another allied health course. The reason why the allied health courses are my back up and not my first preference is because physicians get to diagnose and lead the patient recovery, and I love leading and problem solving (but this isn't my main motive for aiming for med)
My goals for 2020 are:
1. Get 40+ study score for Biology
2. Finish and upload my app to the App Store
3. Learn to cook at least 10 Indian dishes
4. Be able to manage my anxiety and develop a more positive thought pattern
5. Handle at least five house chores a day (I know this is not a lot, but I'm not really good at maintaining these kind of habits lol)
6. Contribute more to AN and answer more questions on the Bio thread
7. Exercise everyday for at least 30 minutes (I have a feeling this is going to be the hardest. I'm so lazy lol)
Anyways, I'm so excited to start this journey and I hope you also achieve your goals for the year!
Whoaaaaaa, you're so ambitious!!!! I rlly hope you'll maintain your outstanding work to achieve them, unlike me who kinda slacks off while halfway there hahah. That's a rlly great reason of staring your journal! It would be rlly great to be able to look back and see how much you've matured, and that can be a valuable source for your learning journey in life.
Honestly, I can relate heaps to you, particularly your 4th and 7th goal, those two aren't that easy to be managed.
GOAL 4: Since yr 11, I occasionally have a RLLY bad anxiety and panic attacks when it comes to school stuff (won't go into the deets), but I'm not sure if I still have it as I haven't been having it lately for the first time in two years, so I should be good for now. I can offer you a few tips to help you manage your anxiety whenever you do have one.
Tips:* Whenever you have one, you should talk to a very close friend about it, don't keep it to yourself, otherwise you'll just bring more burden to yourself, which you wouldn't want. It doesn't matter how many times you have anxiety, it'd be a good idea if you do always tell them about it cuz it has helped me heaps, given that I have rlly bad anxiety.
* It'd be a good idea if you do tell your parents about it, and it has worked for me well. If your relationship with your parents isn't too stable, it'd be good to slowly work on it and discuss it with them, then it'll eventually work. They're the ones who'll be there for your 24/7 (unless you don't live with them), and they'll be there to offer you support in real life. I used to not have a very opening relationship with them (only to some extent), but now I'm a bit more open to them than before, and my mental health has become a lot better than before, tho there are times I do feel p shit, but yeah.
* If you have an anxiety while doing work, take a break, and distract yourself, such as doing something you enjoy or talking to someone who you trust, as aforementioned. It's not worth doing work while having it cuz you'll only just hold yourself up while not being able to think clearly.
* It probably doesn't make sense, but it's true: make sure to have enough sleep cuz you're more prone to having it with little sleep, and that normally happens to me when I don't receive enough sleep, where I do end up having a bit of anxiety while at school, tho I try v hard to hide it.
* Reward yourself over the weekend, such as having foods you like to eat. For me, I rlly love boba and I enjoy eating out. Now this is tricky due to COVID-19. If there's a fast-food place or drink store near your home, lucky you. If not, probs have to find an alternative way to reward yourself.
GOAL 7:I used to exercise everyday, but for the past week, due to my abdominal pain, I couldn't do any exercises unfortunately. Exercising is very beneficial for you for a number of reasons, such as making you feel happy due to the release of serotonin and endorphin, allowing you to improve on your cardiovascular fitness, uhhhhh I forgot what else. I learnt this in psych last year ahahah.
I hope these help, and good luck with living in this hard lockdown!!!!! Ik it'll be very difficult, but we're in the same boat, so we got this!!!!
From mi-xao-14 ^^
P.S. thank you so much for your reply to my journal, I appreciate heaps!!!! : )))))))